Belle Isle Tackles Several Projects

BELLE ISLE — The mayor and City Council members are looking to start tackling stormwater problems, preparing for more traffic through the city and installing a new computer system in the coming year.

About $75,000 has been budgeted for several projects aimed at correcting some flooding problems throughout the city, Mayor Charles R. Scott said.

Scott said plans call for installing more drainage wells to catch the first inch of rain before it goes into any of the Conway Chain of Lakes.

Belle Isle fronts the three Orange County lakes.

One solution would be to regrade Lake Drive at Swann Avenue to get the water running in a different direction, he said.

Commissioner E.B. ''Sonny'' Poff said the city needs to make a master plan for stormwater management.

''In the past we have worked on pet projects for a few people,'' he said. ''We need to get the entire city prioritized, start with the dollars we have and spend them to do the most good.''

Scott also said a little more than $30,000 for three sidewalk projects was budgeted. ''We'll make every effort to do it,'' he said.

Two of the projects, completing sidewalks on Hoffner Avenue and adding some on Indian and Barby Lanes, where residents requested them for schoolchildren, will be simple.

The third, at the curve where Conway and Judge roads are being changed to an intersection, may take awhile, Scott said.

Conway is being extended south to Tradeport Drive to provide additional access to Orlando International Airport. Once the two-lane, $1.6 million extension is completed, it also will connect to Boggy Creek.

Several commissioners had concerns about the intersection, which was a dangerous curve.

Larry Ady said there may be a problem because people are not used to stopping.

''There will need to be a traffic light,'' he said.

Ady and council members Barbara Rylands and Poff said the change will be a mixed blessing.

''It will relieve some of the traffic on Daetwyler, but it will bring additional traffic through the city,'' she said.

Developers are also looking at adding several hundred apartments on land just south of Judge Road, she said.

Ady said he had heard one developer planned apartments in the area, but wondered when that might happen, considering the slow economy.

Scott, however, said the economic picture for the city was quite different.

''We're in a unique situation compared to other cities that have to pay for wastewater treatment, schools or a police department,'' he said.

The services are provided by the county, and the city does pay for additional police protection from the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Officials are upgrading the computer system at City Hall to be able to provide reports that the council has been requesting, Scott added.

Ady said he's looking forward to seeing the financial procedures revised.''We need to have more details on expenditures so that we can understand financial reports, possibly even a pre-approval plan,'' he said.

Scott said one of his main concerns this year would be to get more residents involved in council meetings.

''It would be nice to have them see how council works and add their comments,'' he said. ''They should come and see how things happen and why changes are made. We do value their input.''